An Unknown Price
by Juan Sotomayor
Summary: Louise is worried about her future and for good reason. She is a zero. She was doomed to fail from the start. However, when all hope to be a mage seemed lost, she heard a voice in her head "Hello little one. We will have so much fun together, me and you. Hehehe". Join Louise as she grows and discovers things she really shouldn't have.
1. Chapter 1

The BDO section is even dryer than the Tera section so I feel like adding to it. Its been something I've wanted to do for a while now but never got around to it because reasons.

I know what some people will say, "Hey you spergy retard, why are you starting new stories when some of yours haven't been updated for months?".

Its a valid question and my answer is that I will only work on them when I Feel the will and have ideas for them and when new story ideas pop into my head I like writing them down.

I saw the other BDO x FOZ crossover but it was not my slice of cake or my swig of ale so to say.

I also will be adding the camp idea from BDO Mobile and expanding it later on.

I don't own any of these verses, they are owned by their writers, devs and producers.

**"Yelling" / Important thing**

_**"Black spirit talking"/ Flashback**_

_"Thinking"_

"Speaking"

**Tristain Academy of Magic**

**Louise's room**

**Early Morning**

It was a warm midsummer morning and the sun was slowly rising above the tall stone towers of the Prestigious Academy of Magic in the small country of Tristain. The shadows thrown by the castle like academy created a cool refuge for the groundskeepers that busily tended the grass, bushes, paths and roads that entered the premises. The noble students generally wouldn't wake up for a few more hours so they chatted among themselves and enjoyed the quiet while they could get it.

In a room overlooking an empty courtyard, the faint light of the rising sun bled through the clear pink shades and illuminated a large opulent bed. The occupant of the bed that was completely covered by soft blankets was a small girl. Her small chest rose and fell as her silent snores were muffled by the covering blanket. She was sleeping soundly after her stressful day.

Perhaps it was a nice dream or she was so tired that she couldn't even have worried even if she wanted to, but it was the last peaceful night she would have for a long time thanks to an ancient history she or anyone in the school couldn't ever possibly know.

She slightly shifted and accidentally banged her head against the headboard of the bed letting out a slight "oww" as she blinked slightly revealing her light pink eyes.

"Hmm. I'm up" she said half yawning while pushing the blanket off of her. After pulling herself to the edge of the bed and throwing her half bare small legs over, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

She wore a small pink set of underclothes with white frills that stood out on her small pale body. Her long pinkish blonde hair lay frazzled on her back as she looked around her room.

It was rather dark for the maid to wake her up for breakfast and she didn't see anyone in the room that would have woken her up. She looked around at her room, eyeing the furniture and doorway to make sure she didn't miss anything before she payed attention to the slight throbbing in her head.

Then she realized it. She had banged her head on the headboard of her high quality bed.

Cursing herself for her blunder, she scowled and instinctively rubbed her throbbing head. As she looked around the room a few times more just to confirm she hadn't made a mistake, she looked at the window in her room.

The faint morning light struggled to penetrate the pink shades that kept the room quite dark and the light that did manage to make it's way through was weak and barely illuminated the floor to a visible level.

It had to have been at least three or four hours before the maids would wake her up and she didn't feel like wasting her time walking around and reading was impossible at the time. As her brain booted up, so did the worry she left behind for the peaceful bliss of sleep.

_"The summoning is today...Can I really do this?"_ The worry began overtaking her quickly as she thought. Her shoulders began to droop before she lightly slapped her cheeks with both hands too break herself out of her pessimism.

"I can do this. No need to worry" she breathed out as if still slightly timid and nervous about her task today.

What was the arduous task ahead of her?

The summoning ritual. A sacred task that would allow her to summon her lifetime magical companion. It was a testament to the will and spirit of the mage. What resulted from one's summoning spell was the combination of a mage's spirit, determination, ambition and loyalty.

At least that's what was taught at the academies throughout the lands. Not that she disagreed with it. In fact, she was an excellent student in all but one area. She was an astute academic, had mastered many of the magical concepts and worked diligently with the teachers when it came to theory and history. She was in essence the perfect student in academics.

The problem came in to play when it came to the practical application of magic. Louise was horrible at it. In fact, horrible was putting it nicely.

Whenever she tried to use magic, it would just explode like an uncontrolled chemical mixture. She had tried and tried to find any information on the situation, but she had made no headway under official information. Even after hiring other students that felt pity for her to sneak into the staff section of the school library, she had only found one book that had spoken of heretical artifacts and the demonic energy filled crystals called black stones and the whispers from a terrible spirit from a nameless past.

She had dismissed the tome as a rambling of a madman and contemplated complaining to the headmaster, but that would bring shame to her and her family if she went through with it.

She was a noble from a prestigious family and if she began talking about how she broke the academy's rules just to read the ramblings of a madman and take it seriously, it would put shame on herself and it would say she thought the other noble families were so incredibly weak minded that they would be influenced by reading the ramblings of a madman speaking about a dark spirit invading his mind. She would rather marry an elf before doing that.

However, something did gnaw at the back of her head. It was doubt. Doubt that everything she knew was everything there was to know in her situation. The pestering feeling that she was being fooled by someone. She wouldn't believe, no she couldn't believe that she was being withheld information about her lack of ability in practical application of magic.

She knew she could use magic, but what she did had baffled her and everyone else. Every time she had focused a spell through her wand and the very few times she used a staff in the hopes a larger conductor could help her focus her power it had just ended in a violent explosion.

She was allowed to stay in the academy on the condition that she could succeed in the summoning ritual prepared later today. There was no room for failure. As bad as it would be to be kicked out of the academy, what her mother would do to her would be exponentially worse in comparison.

Now she was completely awake. Sleeping again was no longer an option she could consider.

Going to the bathroom connected by a wooden door to her room she washed up, brushed her teeth and did everything she needed to before returning to her bedroom and changing into her school clothes. She was so used to the maids doing it for her that it took her quite a long time to prepare herself to a presentable appearance in her view. She wore a black short cloak over a pristine white women's dress shirt and a long black skirt.

"What to do?" she asked herself. She had a few hours before breakfast was served. She could go to the kitchen and demand food from the commoners. They would give it to her if she was smart but it would be too much of a hassle for her and she would have to be around the commoner trash. Such is the woe of being a noble. Having to sacrifice your time and wait for commoners just to get what you want was borderline unacceptable, however she was still a teenager and didn't have her own estate. Nor did she have a Fiefdom to call her own. Due to her lack of magical talent she was little better than a commoner with some money. That thought was quite angering but it was the honest truth.

She took a few long deep breaths, the air circulating through her body calmed her somewhat but her fiery temper could not be calmed through mere breath exercises. She would need to take her anger out on something, someone or she would go insane and be unable to contain herself. She might even try the summoning ritual on her own by herself and if she couldn't do it, she might run away. If that was the case, the next question that would be raised would be where she would go?

The Valliere family had a few allies but more enemies than she would like to think about thanks to her mother and her father just being bullied by her mother into accepting everything her mother said. Rumors are that her mother had either bullied or forced her way into a marriage with her father, While none of that was confirmed, her mothers personality definitely gave the impression of it. That was one of the reasons she couldn't ask her father for help since her mother would probably force any information about Louise out of him. She felt slightly sorry for her father but now was not thee time to worry about such things.

Walking through the door of her room, she decided to go through the torch-lit hallways to the first year courtyard where there were training dummies for the purpose of combat training. She had rarely used them as she thought she would be made the butt of many jokes if she practiced in front of other students.

Eventually making it to the courtyard, she saw it's packed dirt ground was empty of other students and ten metal and cloth dummies stood at the middle of it staring blankly at her. She knew it was unreasonable of her to be angry at an inanimate dummy but she couldn't help but think of her classmates mocking her while she swung her wand at the set of dummies with a fireball incantation but the result was as expected. A large explosion sent the dummies flying burnt and charred.

Repeating it at the dummies and eventually just the ground in sadness and rage at her own incompetence, Louise dropped to her knees and stared at the ground in front of her out of mana exhaustion. The summoning ritual would most likely end in failure. She remembered her older sister and mother chastising her for her repeated failures. She was only here in the academy with the hopes that her magic failures could be fixed by the teachers here.

It almost made her feel like a faulty wand that was to be repaired. It was humiliating and embarrassing for her who had built up her pride and ego in a defense against the constant barrage of taunts and provocations from other students. Not only was she failing at practical magic applications but she was tiny and had not many redeeming qualities she could honestly name other than her resilience and dedication to academics, but even that felt hollow when she knew it was only to make her feel better about herself and show the other students she wasn't a complete failure as a noble.

"Hello miss Velliere. Might I ask what you are doing on your knees in this courtyard with nary a soul around you? You wil get your skirt quite dirty, not to mention that dirty knees are not a fitting image for a young noble girl like you" came the elderly voice of a man she had gotten to know rather well through necessity during her short stay at the academy from her left.

Nearly jumping in fright from being pulled out of her thoughts she turned her head to her left and saw an elderly man with long white hair, a long white mustache and beard that hung down over long gray closed robes that covered his whole body. On his head was a gray pointed wizards hat that had a silver moon sewn into the front where a buckle usually would be. In his right hand was a long gnarled grey wood staff that had a large silver crescent moon attached to its head.

Getting slowly and shakily up she dipped her head in a sign of respect to the headmaster who had gone out of his way many a time to ensure her comfort to the best of his ability short of making policies that would effect students daily lives.

"Headmaster, I was just dealing with some anger I was feeling. Will I really be kicked out of school if I fail this test?" she asked with trepidation. There was no reason to put on the boastful and aggressive persona she used with other students around him. He already knew too much and she knew even if she tried to deceive him, it most likely would be seen through.

The man sighed before stroking his beard.

After looking up at the morning sky as if contemplating how to answer, he looked at her and nodded.

"Yes, it means that. Even if it was me appealing to the crown I would be incredibly hard pressed to allow you to stay, given how your mother is. While dealing with her isn't a problem for me, it would probably be a major problem for you. However, I don't doubt you will summon something fitting of your name. But let's not worry about that right now. I just finished making a brew of High Tristainian style creamed Cafe Latte and it's getting cold in my office. Come join me in my office for a talk. Your mother sent a letter I want to review with you".

As he said that he had walked over and ended it with a smile and a slight affectionate ruffle of her hair on the top of her head.

"Must you always treat me like a child headmaster?" Louise responded but couldn't hide the traces of a smile forming. Just like her second sister cared for her, the headmaster also cared for her in his own way. He had told her before that he had seen someone in a similar situation to her before and didn't help enough before the person went down a dark spiral. He wouldn't let a situation like that happen again. Not if he could help it.

"For me who has lived as long as I have, most adults are children Louise. Don't take it to heart" he answered as he turned towards the building confident she would follow him.

He was right with his guess as he heard the soft patter of her feet following him moments later.

When they arrived in his empty office, Louise couldn't help but let out a breath of admiration for the sheer amount of magical tools, books and baubles that were present in his dimly lit office. The walls were lined with large bookshelves filled with scrolls, books and trinkets. The dressers and cabinets were filled with robes and magical items that peeked their way out of the shelves and open drawers like timid animals. The dark blue carpeted floor was quite soft, reminding one of a soft field of grass. Books lay scattered across the floor, creating a mini labyrinth between the piles of books and scrolls.

In the left wall was a large brick fireplace contained by a glass wall that was magically enchanted to let the heat leave but not the smoke. With the sun not fully up yet, the fireplace was the main light other than three softly glowing blue and yellow globes of what she assumed to be crystal that lazily chased each other across the ceiling at a snail crawl. The lights gave the room a soft and relaxing tone that exuded comfort.

The headmaster sat in his large cushioned seat behind the large wood and metal desk in his cushioned chair and motioned to Louise to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Just as he had said, a small ceramic blue tea cup filled with a light brown liquid sat slightly steaming on his desk in it's tea plate.

When she had sat down in the most comfortable way she could while remaining dignified, Louise asked "You said you had a letter from my mother?".

The headmaster smiled to her from underneath his mustache and beard and replied "Yes, in fact I have it right here with me".

Ruffling through a drawer to his right, he took out a spotless white envelope and placed it in front of the small girl.

Louise opened it, careful not to destroy the wax seal.

She could tell it was in her mother's handwriting due to the straight and sharp lines.

Opening a folded paper inside she read out loud.

**"Dear Daughter**

**I was informed just a short while ago that your summoning test will be any day now. Normally with how you fail at your magic, I would have you recalled immediately after a failure but your sisters had actually both agreed that it would be better for you to stay even if you failed. I am certain you know who said they would not be able to look at you like a sister anymore if you kept failing the way you always do and who appealed to my softer emotions.**

**Against my better judgement and most likely the headmaster's, I had appealed to the crown and the headmaster for you to be allowed to stay in the case of your failure, if only to keep you from pestering me. The crown agreed,with no doubt as to why. So in the case the headmaster agrees to be nice enough to allow you to remain even in your likely failure, I want you to do your utmost best to maintain the high grades and respect I hear you have gained from the teachers and to pay the honorable headmaster back in the way he deems fit.**

**In the unlikely case you do succeed in summoning something, I expect a letter from you in uttermost haste with information on how you fixed your magic issues.**

**Your father asked me to write that he hopes you are doing well and sends his best wishes. He keeps telling me you will succeed. We have yet to see why he is so confident in your ability.**

**Best Regards**

**Your Mother"**

Louise folded it and looked to the headmaster.

The final result was up to him.

He smiled and said "Of course I will allow you to stay in the case you fail. What kind of a headmaster would I be if I left you to fend for yourself? Now non to the other issues at hand-" he was about to continue but he saw Louise's eyes tearing up as she let out all the worry and bitterness she had felt in the case she would be kicked out and returned to her mother's harsh regimen.

She began lightly sobbing but had a smile on her face. She was in the clear, there was no need to be worried anymore. The next time she saw her sisters, mother and father she would hug them deeply.

Now with all of her stress released and her emotions expelled she fell asleep from the exhaustion.

The headmaster just chuckled seeing how she had finally had her burden that had been tormenting her for the past weeks lifted off of her back and how she reacted. It was quite a nice feeling for him, helping his students overcome their problems in the best way possible.

Now there was only one thing left to do for the girl.

He got up and walked over to a large cabinet near a huge pile of books in the corner of the room and took out a warm blanket before walking over to her and placing the blanket on her. She looked so peaceful.

With that situation out of the way, he had to deal with much more pressing issues, not that he would tell her that in this situation but it was the truth.

War was on the horizon and he had to be prepared. He began writing out a multitude of letters to various nobles, contacts and military officials. While he had played the aloof lecherous old man, he was quite resourceful when he was serious. Maybe his lechery wasn't all an act but it's not like that made him someone bad. People were such prudes these days.

**Later that day**

Louise woke up from a peaceful sleep to see a well lit office with a large desk in front of her. A man in a gray robe was chatting leisurely with a strict looking green haired woman in her late twenties who wore a pair of out of place glasses and casual business attire. She was Miss longuvuille, the headmaster's assistant.

The two both stopped chatting as they saw the young girl wake up.

"Ah you're awake. Perfect timing. The Summoning ritual is in about forty minutes. Do go return to your room and wash up and change. You still have dirt on you from whatever you did in the courtyard" the headmaster said before turning to his assistant.

"Could you be a dear and fetch a maid to assist young miss Louise here in preparing for her day" the headmaster asked in a tone that was more a demand than a question.

The green haired woman sighed lightly as if bothered before saying "Fine, but you still owe me for what you did earlier".

The headmaster grinned at the woman and said "Yes yes, you're quite right. I wont forget. Now, the maid please" with a chuckle.

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration before nodding and walking over to the still rising Louise.

"Come with me" She said as she took the blanket off of the girl and helped her up.

On the way over to the Maid's quarters which was rather close to the headmaster's office Louise had fully woken up for the second time that day.

When they arrived, a fair skinned plump blonde haired maid greeted them with a bow and asked what they needed.

After a short dialogue, Louise was ushered back to her room to prepare again for her day.

**Summoning courtyard**

It was now Louise's turn to summon a familiar. Thanks to the letter and her rest after letting out her worries, she did not feel angry or nervous, even going so far as to ignore the taunts of her usual harasser Kirche. The busty redhead girl had no idea what had gotten Louise so mellow and composed in the face of the summoning that had tormented her for weeks prior.

As she stepped up to the magical circle of runes inscribed onto a carved stone circle and began her chant, Louise felt her magic flood her, it felt so good. It was as if she had had her eyes closed all her life and now only just opened them.

She stretched and spread the magical power as far and wide as she could in her attempt to summon a familiar.

This was the first time her magic hadn't exploded in her face and it was amazing.

However, moments later the mana exhaustion hit her and she fell backwards with her face to the sky.

_**"Oh my, What do we have here? This will be fun. Quite fun"**_ A high pitched creepy voice similar to that of a distorted child's rang in her ears.

The last thing she remembered seeing was what looked like inky black smoke with two red glowing embers inches above her face before she fell unconcious due to her fatigue.

**And cut.**

**I changed a few things as you have noticed. I hope you enjoyed it.**


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back baby. Time to give the black spirit and louise some love.

To the reviews.

Chronos 0305: Hello, The black spirit is quite an interesting being. More will be revealed throughout the story. As for playing BDO, It's quite fun.

Gold crown dragon: I hope I still do. I know it's been a while.

Guest: Here we go.

.

**"Yelling" / Important thing**

_**"Black spirit talking"/ Flashback**_

_"Thinking"_

"Speaking"

**Chapter 1: Insanity?**

**Tristain academy of magic**

**Hospital wing**

Darkness was all that Louise saw for quite a while. She felt like she was swimming in an empty cavern deep below the earth. However, it wasn't water or any liquid that she floated in. This was floating in the air. Then the area she was in lit up by a strong gray light. She found herself floating in an empty void as far as the eye could see. She saw a small silver and black rectangle somewhat far ahead of her. She willed her body to move forward and she floated quickly towards the shape in front of her.

As she got closer, the shape revealed itself to be a long metal rectangle of a silvery black color slowly rotating around an inky black ball the size of a human head. It drew her in, as if magnetic. floating over to it, Louise observed it. Floating around and investigating it from all sides. The inky blackness showed nothing but a mirror on the outside. It was then that she saw her reflection. It was not that of the small girl that she had expected, but that of a woman, as if she had grown to thirty or so years old.

Her softer features had sharpened out and her once innocent looking eyes had changed into those of a hawk or a lion. Her face had a stressful look on it, as if it acclimated to hardships over the many years of life.

The one thing that irked her slightly was that she was naked, as if to say she could hide nothing from whatever this orb was, however, this was a dream, so she didn't really care too much. She then reached out and touched the orb, as her curiosity was reaching it's limits. As soon as she touched it, the world spun, causing her to shut her eyes and grit her teeth.

When she opened her eyes, she was on the top of a large stone wall overlooking a rocky cliff. However, before she could get a grip of her surroundings a noise broke her concentration.

Screee! Screee!

A loud bird call was heard directly above her. Looking up, she saw what could only be a monster. It was a desecration of humanity and nature. A foul monster that was a cross between a hideous woman and a bird from the chest down flapped towards her.

She tried reaching for her wand on instinct only to find nothing causing her to try to roll to the side as if by instinct. However, her clumsy body could not complete the task before the sharp talons tore through her. At least that's what she thought would happen.

However, the bird went right through her as if she were a ghost, not even noticing her in the slightest. As it landed, it called out a name.

"Caww, Jordine, I knew you would do this. Caww, Let us work to gather caww! We can take Calpheon together Caww"

Schlik

The wet sound of an incredibly sharp blade slicing through flesh and bone caused Louise to turn around towards the sound. When she did, she almost threw up. A large spray of blood coated the ground right up to her. If she was actually there, she would have been sprayed with hot blood.

That made her want to throw up, but she was incapable of it so instead she winced. Standing over the decapitated body was a thickly muscled blonde haired man wielding a well made long sword coated in blood in a set of steel plate armor from body to toe. His face wore a look of abject disgust.

"Disgusting harpy princess. Useless fools and pawns like you deserve not but death. As much as Calpheon needs death and destruction, I will not join with monsters. Heidel has no room for that. Speaking of monsters, I sense dark energy nearby" Then the man looked directly at Louise.

"I see I am not alone" He said as if disappointed in something before turning to his right and scoffing.

"You don't hide yourself and your spies very well mage"

Turning to where the man was looking, Louise saw a man in a black robe with silver trim that was shrouded in a black smoke like energy. It had a black mask with a monster's face made of silver trim. Next to him were also men in similar outfits each with less intricate masks.

"We're not hiding from you Jordine, We're making sure you don't get noticed with us. If we wanted to hide neither you or anyone in heidel could find us. That aside, do you have the stone?" came the low and rough voice from the man behind the mask.

Jordine scoffed and took a black stone the size of a hand out of a small satchel on his waist.

"Here it is. Did you really think I wouldn't have it?"

The man in the dark robes opened his right hand towards Jordine and the stone pulsed with a dark black energy and it flew into the man's hand.

"You have failed before Jordine, Don't forget that" were the last words of the robed man before he dissipated, leaving nothing behind but a small swirling orb of black energy.

Jordaine shook his head and scowled at the orb as if hating it, but he still walked up to it and put his hand out to it. The orb shook and seized before being absorbed into his hand.

"Curse you Shadow Knights"

Jordine spit on the ground where the mage was before turning towards Louise who was now a mix of frightened and confused and scowled. However, he didn't do anything other than walk down a nearby staircase leading down from the wall.

Then Louise woke up.

She was lying in a bed in the hospital wing of school. She felt exhausted, even though she had rested. Mana depletion was serious and could do irreversible damage if taken to the extreme. At the moment she was wearing her school outfit with a cold and wet towel folded over her forehead.

Taking the towel off and placing it on the small brown wood table next to her bed, she looked around. The room she was in was rather small. It had one window overlooking a small courtyard next to the academy wall that rose above her window.

The room itself was of hewn stone with a wooden plank floor that was varnished and had a few rugs in certain areas. There was a dresser and a small table on wheels that had a few books on it. One was lying open as if the person who was reading them had recently left. Next to that was a wooden chair with violet cloth cushions.

Just as she was reaching her conclusions, a knocking was heard at the closed door that led to the hallway.

"Who is it?" Louise asked whoever was on the other side.

"Mr. Colbert. I've been watching to make sure you're okay. Do you mind if I come in?"

"No, come in" Louise responded, thankful that it was the kind teacher and not a student that would bully her.

The door creaked open before a tall middle aged man in a blue many pocketed robe entered the room. The top of his head was balding and he had short hair on the sides, similar to how a monk would have his hair. He had small, half moon spectacles that covered his sharp blue eyes, howevver, his smile was warm and genuine.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and okay. Mana depletion gets rough. Though it seems you are well on your way to recovery. Tell me, what do you think of war, louise?"

Louise raised her right eyebrow in confusion.

"The threat of it Is necessary to keep peace as long as it can stay as a deterrent. Why do you ask?"

Colbert sighed with a bitter smile then decided to not beat around the bush.

" I'm glad your mental state has not changed, as much as I dislike war. Forgive my strange question, It's just that mana exhaustion does things to people and you seemed very distraught as you slept. The nurse that was watching you heard you saying a name over and over in your sleep while thrashing around and felt it necessary to call for my for my expedient arrival. If I recall, it was 'Jordine'. Who is he?"

Louise who was lying down, shot upright at the name. Even if only a dream, the heretical and disturbing dream felt so real. She would never forget the situation that played out in front of her.

"I had a nightmare. It was horrible. I was standing on a cliff side wall and a bird woman monster thing flew down at me. It's claws would have sliced me, but it flew through me as if i didn't exist, And it asked this man, Jordine if he wanted to team up to destroy 'Calpheon'. Whatever that is. Then he sliced it's head offf and it looked and felt so real.

Then he looked at me as if he could see me. I was scared. Before he did anything a mage showed up, and it looked like a demon from stories and took a black stone from him and disappeared. Then Jordine took a black energy from the air and looked at me. I was scared. It felt so real and I didn't have my wand".

Louise told Colbert what she could remember before saying.

"Something happened before but I can't remember what. I'm sorry".

Colbert sighed with relief.

"It was just a nightmare. Don't worry too much. Though this 'Calpheon' Is a name I feel I have heard somewhere vaguely before. I will look into it. For now just rest and recover. Are you hungry? I can send a meal to you if you want?" He said while trying to comfort the nervous Louise who was slightly trembling.

"Yes, please. I'm quite hungry" Came the reply of Louise who was getting over the dreadful memory.

"Alright. I'll send for some food" Colbert said before exiting the room.

Lying back down with her hand on her forehead that was quite sweaty from her nervous outbreak, Louise let out a long breath. She usually didn't let nightmares get to her so much, but something about that one didn't sit well with her at all.

_**"Hahahahahaha. You're quite upset little one. Take a rest"** _Came a distorted voice of what sounded like a very young child.

"Who's there?" Louise asked trying her best to be intimidating while reaching for her wand at her waist. Sadly it was not there.

_**"Hehehehehe. So violent. Is that how you greet your benevolent savior?"**_ came the distorted and creepy voice.

"My savior? I don't believe that for a second. Show yourself then we can talk" Louise almost shouted at whatever was speaking.

_**"Very well little human"** _came the voice.

At the end of the bed floated a small ball of black smoky energy the size of a big book, similar to that from her dream, however, this had two red dots that occasionally blinked like eyes.

"Ahhhhh! Monster!" Louise screamed while trying to get up to run away, but found her body unresponsive.

_**"Louise, Louise. I'm not a monster. I'm a spirit, a ghost so to say and I mean you no harm. Forgive my restraints, I can't have you going around and yelling about me to everyone. That would be troublesome"**_ it stayed silent for a while as Louise glared at it.

"Release me! Now!" Louise almost snarled as she glared at it. This spirit, dared to restrain her and almost mock her. The nerve it had.

_**"I'm going to need your word you wont run away. It would get troublesome if people thought my 'Master' was going insane hehehe"**_ It said while it inflected master weirdly.

Louise struggled against her invisible restraints but still could not move anything other than her head.

"Fine! I'll hear you out. Not like it will change anything monster!" She growled before she regained use of her body.

**_"Very good. I'll be brief. You summoned me human. Of course your little binding magic was instantly negated, but you did succeed in pulling me here. Now for fun, I have bound myself to you, like I have many others in the past. You'll come to find this has many benefits. Some may be found in unsavory ways hehehe_"** As it laughed it flew across the room, leaving a trail of black energy that slowly dissolved.

"Who are you?" Louise asked still angry but now curious.

_**"Why your familiar of course. However, this will be a mutually beneficial relationship. I only need one thing. You. " **_the spirit said the last part like it was speaking to a child.

"What's the catch? Do I lose my soul? Do I get corrupted? Will my life be a living hell?" Louise asked. From what she read in the past, beings of spiritual or divine forms required payment of some sort.

_**"Hehehehehehehe. None of the sort. I don't need the soul of a weakling like you. I have many of those already. All i need is for you to get stronger. By doing so, I will also grow. No other payment will ever be necessary".**_

"Is that so? What of the people that see you? The church will surely send people to kill you and me if we were to join each other in our goals" Louise asked, still not liking the idea of being bound to this spirit. For all she knew, it had already taken her soul as payment and it was just playing with her head. She would be none the wiser.

_**"I can make myself invisible and inaudible to anyone I don't want seeing me. It's quite a handy ability. Just ask the black scale nagas hehehehe"**_ It said before bursting into laughter while zipping about.

"And if I say no?" Louise asked, a feeling of dread creeping up on her.

_**"Nothing really changes. I'll still be bound to you, always in your shadow but we just won't talk much and you won't get stronger. Surely that is something you want badly, to be stronger?"**_ it asked, pressing the right buttons of her mind.

Louise sighed defeated. She was pretty sure there was nothing she could do about her situation.

"F...fi...fine! I'll work with you. Just don't do anything to me" She spit out as if each word was painful to say.

_**"Hehehe They say humans always desire chaos because they have to be in it. They need it. YOU need it. Hehehehehe. I'll tell you more later. For now, Your friend is back"**_ The spirit said before turning it's eyes towards the door.

**_"Don't worry, he can't see me"_** it said bemusedly.

Seconds later Mr. Colbert's voice came through.

"I have your food. Can you open up please? My hands are full"

"Coming" Louise said while shakily getting up from the bed, He body still recovering from whatever magic the spirit used on her.

Seconds later she opened the door and Colbert came in.

"It feels a little colder in here. That's odd" He said as he put down the food on the table in the middle of the room. The meal consisted of three chicken drumsticks, various vegetables, potatoes and bread. It also came with two glasses of milk.

"I figured you needed something strong to help you recover. This meal is full of nutrients to help your body recover it's energy. You know, I've heard that a good and hearty meal helps your magic grow. While it's not confirmed, it does help your body" He said to try to cheer her up.

"Thank you mister Colbert" Louise said in her best normal voice she could muster.

"You're welcome. I know you're still recovering from your mana exhaustion but I'm sure you'll be okay in no time" Colbert smiled as he looked at Louise.

"As of now, you won't be going to class for two days. Try to rest and keep your head up. I will take my leave now. Have a maid call for me if anything happens or you need something" he said before stepping to leave.

"Thank you mister Colbert" she said again, This time in utmost sincerity.

"No problem" He said as he left.

_**"He truly cares for you. That's touching. I wonder how long that will last?"**_ The spirit said as if to remind Louise it was still there and to prove its claims about his invisibility.

_**"So as my first blessing to you, I will give you a choice. If you were to fight something, how would you do it? With your fists, a blade or magic?"**_

"Magic of course? Why was that even a question?" Louise said while giving the spirit a strange look.

_**"Hehehe, Very well. Why I asked doesn't matter. Clench your teeth and hold on to something. This will hurt. A lot"** _The spirit said before diving at her.

"Wait, what **AAAAAHHHRGHHH**" Louise let out a scream of pure agony, As if her entire body was being built and reformed, as if her entire self was being rewritten down to her very soul.

In between her screams she had bitten her lips so hard there were large gashes from her teeth, but such a thing was meaningless at the moment.

Maids rushed in to check on her immediately after hearing her screaming and saw her screaming and convulsing as if her entire body was being ripped to shreds. Immediately sending one to run for Colbert.

Minutes later, Colbert and the maid returned. Seeing Louise's state, he called one of the maids over.

"Get the headmaster immediately. Louise has gone into Mana shock. Her very life and soul is being consumed as a last ditch effort to keep her body alive. I didn't know she used that much mana up!" He said in frantic panic.

The maid stood there looking at him a scared look in her face.

**"RUN YOU FOOL!"** he screamed.

That broke her out of her trance and she ran to the headmaster's quarters as fast as she could.

"Stay with me Louise!" Colbert shouted as he grabbed one of her hands and used the other to push her down, making sure she didn't accidentally smash into something nearby.

**"HELP ME HOLD HER DOWN"** he screamed to the maids who hurriedly grabbed the still thrashing girl.

When she was sufficiently held down, Colbert put one hand on her chest, right above her frantically beating heart and one over her head, the main areas where magic could cause the most damage and used his magical energy to try to soothe them from their overload.

Eventually he managed to slow down the overload and Louise stopped flailing and screaming. Then Colbert used his very delicate wind magic to clear Louise's blood filled throat.

Coughing slightly, Louise sunk into a deep sleep, her mana slowly recovering to a normal rate.

Falling back to a sitting position on the ground next to the bed, Colbert let out a sigh of relief and motioned for the maids to let go of her.

"She'll be okay now. Thank you" He let out in labored breaths.

The maids bowed and hurriedly left the room, Leaving only a few water mages that healed her lips from the gashes.

The disaster was averted, however it was quite frightening. He hoped the headmaster could get a better read on the situation than him. For now he would stay with Louise, to make sure nothing horrible like this could happen again.

**And cut. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
